methylnaphthalene-degrading culture (1MN). Cultivation with elemental sulfur and thiosulfate with ferrihydrite or nitrate as electron acceptors resulted in a first cable bacteria enrichment culture dominated >90% by 16S Desulfobulbaceae Desulfobulbaceae rRNA sequences belonging to the . -specific fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) unveiled single cells and filaments of up to several hundred micrometers length to belong Desulfobulbaceae to the same species. The filaments also showed the distinctive cable bacteria morphology with their continuous ridge pattern as revealed by atomic force microscopy. The cable bacteria grew with nitrate as electron acceptor and elemental sulfur and thiosulfate as electron donor, but also by sulfur disproportionation when Fe(Cl) or Fe(OH) were present as sulfide scavengers. Metabolic reconstruction based on the first nearly 2 3 complete genome of groundwater cable bacteria revealed the potential for sulfur disproportionation and a chemo-litho-autotrophic metabolism. The presence of different types of hydrogenases in the genome suggests that they can utilize hydrogen as alternative electron donor. Our results imply that cable bacteria not only use sulfide oxidation coupled to oxygen or nitrate reduction by LDET for energy conservation, but sulfur disproportionation might constitute the energy metabolism for cells in large parts of the cable bacterial filaments.

Nelson, J.P., 2020. Mythic forecasts: researcher portrayals of extraterrestrial life discovery. International Journal of Astrobiology 19, 16-24.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550419000089 Scientific discovery, especially at the boundaries of human observational capacity, is an extended, incremental and sometimes controversy-laden process; but practicing researchers' published statements do not always portray it as such. If extraterrestrial life (ETL) exists, and if we find it, the process of observation, interpretation, understanding and confirmation may take decades. Though it is, thus, likely that scientific consensus will accrue around an ETL interpretation in a gradual and subtle process, the general public and even practicing scientists often discuss ETL discovery as though it will be rapid and dramatic. To illustrate this phenomenon, this review analyses a convenience sample of astronomers', astrobiologists' and astrosociologists' statements and assumptions in scholarly and general-audience media regarding a prospective discovery of ETL. Of 30 surveyed scholarly studies and 37 surveyed general-audience pieces, 24 scholarly and scientists' perspectives in 32 general-audience pieces do not acknowledge the extended nature of scientific discovery; and only three and four, respectively, do so explicitly. These results suggest that ETL researchers' statements could often portray an inaccurate or at least atypical vision of scientific progress in their own studies and to general-audience media outlets.

Neupane, B., Zhao, J., Ju, Y., Baral, U., 2020. Occurrence of unconventional hydrocarbon deposits and its structural relation in Nepal Himalaya: implication for future exploration. Arabian Journal of Geosciences 13, 81.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-5078-5 Due to tectonic movement, compressed structures, and mountain upliftment process, several sedimentary basins have evolved in the periphery of the Himalayan orogeny. The evolution of sedimentary basins within the Central Himalaya (i.e., Nepal Himalaya) is quite similar in age (i.e., Eocene - Recent). The sedimentary sequences within this basin are marked by large-scale geological structures (e.g., Main Central Thrust, Main Boundary Thrust, and Main Frontal Thrust). The Lesser Himalayan (Eocene-Miocene) foreland basin in far western Nepal contains various hydrocarbon deposits. Similarly, the shallow marine shale, coal seams numerous fossils, and tight sand layers are the important sources of energy resources. The sedimentary basin, Surkhet Group in the western Nepal, is the prospective area for the unconventional hydrocarbon deposit. Due to active geological structures (such as Ranimatta Thrust, Budar Thrust, Mahabharat Thrust, and Nabi Khola Anticline), oil and gas seem to have migrated upward in the Padukasthan, Nabhisthan, and Sristhan. Therefore, the active oil and gas seepage occur locally in this area. Due to lack of scientific engineering research, the utilization of various energy resources of Central Himalaya (Nepal Himalaya) is important but challenging. There is not much work carried out on this section; the present study discussed about the relationship between the sedimentary structures and the formation of unconventional gas and its prospects in the Nepal Himalaya region.